


A Song of Spring

by EllieL



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Alderaan, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Lullabies, New Parents, Short & Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:13:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25824946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllieL/pseuds/EllieL
Summary: Leia is singing her new daughter a lullaby. She doesn't realize quite what she's singing until Han asks her about it.Written for the HanLeia Challenge August 2020 prompt, "Alderaan."
Relationships: Leia Organa/Han Solo
Comments: 6
Kudos: 40
Collections: HanLeia Challenge





	A Song of Spring

“What’s that you’re singing?”

“Hmmm?” She stopped her soft song, but kept rocking, momentum and the warm weight cradled carefully in her arms keeping her going.

“You’re singing to her—in Alderaanian?”

The jerky look up at him brought her rocking to an abrupt cessation, and the baby fussed. She nodded, but didn’t answer him. Instead, she began singing again, and rocking. The chair, which Han had made for them, creaked gently in counterpoint to her song.

He settled on the window seat, silently watching and listening. It only made her a little self conscious; she did not have a lovely singing voice, but he would not think less of her for that. Only when the baby was snoring softly did her voice trail off. 

Carefully, she rose, and he was right at her elbow, ready to help but not quite doing anything until invited. She stepped towards him, and one of his hands came to rest on what had once been the curve of her waist, guiding her back to the crib. He smoothed out the fitted sheet as she laid down their child. 

“Is it an Alderaanian lullaby?” he whispered, words ruffling her messy hair.

She leaned into his side, wrapping an arm around him and exhaling slowly as he mirrored the gesture. “It was a folk song, welcoming spring. My mother used to sing it working in the garden. She was always singing.”

“Hardly hear you speak it.” It was still just a whisper, as they stood looking down at their daughter, quiet so as not to wake her.

“It’s...difficult. Emotionally. But also there are so few of us left…” Pressing her eyes tightly closed, she did her best to curb the threatening tears.

“Teach her.” She twisted to look up at him, but he barely glanced at Leia before turning his eyes back to their daughter, and continuing, “You know I talk to her in Corellian. Don’t want her growing up thinking the whole galaxy just speaks Basic.”

Nodding, she squeezed him once, then pulled back, urging both of them out of the dimly-lit room. He came along, sticking right by her side, only releasing her to kiss the crown of her head and pull the nursery door closed. They stood together in the hallway for a long quiet minute, which ought to have been awkward but instead just felt like a respite in her hectic day. He held her loosely, as she rested her forehead against his chest.

“I want her to speak Alderaanian with me.”

“Keep singin’ to her like that, then.” Kissing the top of her head again, he began to walk them the few steps down the hall to their bedroom.

“Yeah,” she said, slouching against him, feeling like she was on autopilot. Shrugging out of her fluffy robe, she let it fall onto the floor as she crossed the room. With a blink, she cleared her mind enough to step into the shower, turning up the temperature and letting the hot water wash over her and soothe away the aches of the day and the memories.

Only when she turned off the water did she realize that she was singing again, a different Alderaanian folksong, about true love. She let the words tumble around in her head, mixed with other songs she had loved, and poems, and quotes from dramas, and her father’s favorite aphorisms. It was a beautiful language, and she missed it more deeply than she’d realized.

When she came to bed, Han was already stretched out, one arm flung out towards her side of the bed and nearly asleep. She slid in beside him, and felt the arm that had been extended wrap around her, snuggling her close to him.

“I do want to speak Alderaanian with her. I want her to grow up speaking Alderaanian,” she whispered into his shoulder.

“I can learn some more of it, too. ‘S easier than Shyriiwook.” It was barely above a mumble, and sounded half in Shyriiwook, but it made her smile.

“You’d speak it with me?”

He rolled over, facing her, one hand stroking up and down her bare arm as he kissed her. “Of course I would. As long as you teach me, and don’t sic Threepio on me again.”

That made her laugh, and eased the last of the tension out of her body as she pinched him on the arm. “That was only because I didn’t speak Ithorian, either.”

His answering huff of laughter tickled her ear, and she pressed a kiss to his neck. “Thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank me, sweetheart.”

“I’ll remember that when you get up with her at two.” Smiling against his neck, she felt more than heard his grumble. But it didn’t take long for his breathing to even off and his embrace to loosen slightly, letting her shift to be slightly more comfortable.

She, too, fell asleep almost immediately, exhausted body craving the restorative sleep. But she dreamed that night, as she hadn’t in years, of the gardens at the summer palace, singing along with her mother to welcome the spring.


End file.
